Forerunner
by TheGift13
Summary: John has been rescued from the Forward Unto Dawn and is living life as a normal civilian now. Until a Forerunner speaks to him in his sleep,warning him of the Flood's evolution. Will John heed the warning or ignore it? R&R, Constructive criticism welcome.
1. Chapter 1: Forerunner

**Chapter 1**

**Aria**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Halo, at all. I really wish I did though, then I'd make the entire thing melee weapons =D**

**Summary: Master Chief, or John, is living life as as a normal civilian after being saved from the Forward Unto Dawn. That is until a Forerunner speaks to him in a dream, warning him of an evolution of the Flood. Will John put the dream off as a dream and nothing more, or take heed of the warning?**

**Author's note: John's now a civilian, so he's not so 'military' and rigid. It makes him easier to write xD. Plus, he's a lot more fun (: So here we gooooooo~~**

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The bright light engulfed the room. John blinked and his eyes slowly adjusted to the glare of the light, and he could make out the figure of a slim woman with long flowing hair. The figure walked towards him in a graceful cat-walk like strut. John arched his eyebrows as the details of the woman became clearer and clearer.

Streaming down her body were symbols, like Cortana except a lot more complex. She seemed almost translucent with a cyan glow. John took a step forward. There was something about her face, something that tingled familiarity in him. John knew he had never seen this woman but there was a sense of déjà vu when he saw her. It seemed almost as if he _knew_ her. And her face, the beauty that it was, was indescribable. It was as if John was blind and seeing her face was like seeing the sun for the first time. Her hair was smooth as velvet, flying in the air as if there were a wind blowing them. Her eyes were an aurulent gold, its deep tone mesmerizing.

"John..." the woman called out to him. Her voice was smooth and fluid as water. The voice was empowering and it enticed John to listen and obey. If she had told him to kill himself, John was sure he would have done even that.

"Who, no, _what_ are you?" John managed to choke out. She was in no way human. The only thing he had ever set eyes on (which was a lot) that had symbols on, was Cortana, an AI.

"I am Aria. A Forerunner," the goddess replied.

_A Forerunner?! Impossible! Aren't they dead?_ John's thoughts raced through his mind.

"We are not dead. We are never dead. We are immortals. We have simply left your world."

"How did you -"

"To Forerunners, your thoughts are as blatantly obvious as your words."

"So we are a -"

"Lower form of life, yes."

"And who are you to say that when you look like a human?"

"It is the other way around. You humans look like _me_. _I_ created you humans in _my_ image."

John blinked. How long had he lived normally, and now a Forerunner appearing to him. Was there something that the almighty Forerunners might need him to do?

"Indeed, John."

"What is it?"

"The Flood."

John opened his mouth and shut it, letting the familiarity of that word sink in. Technically it had been more than a hundred years since he had even seen a Flood life form. He racked his brain and pulled out an image of the grotesque, inhuman, parasitic beasts.

"Since you're here, handle it."

The cyan woman sighed, and looked down, as though thinking of words to say. John stared enquiringly at her, attempting to read her expression. But her face was blank, completely empty and devoid of emotion.

"The Flood have evolved." Aria said at last.

John snorted. "So?"

"The Forerunners can handle them no more; we need the help of Humans, as much as I would not like to admit it."

Surprise hit John. "The _Forerunners_ can't handle something?"

The woman smiled gently, "Do not think of us as gods, John. We left because we were unable to handle the flood. That _was _why we built the Halos."

"Yeah and that –"

"No time, John. I must leave."

"Wait!"

But just as he had shouted that, light engulfed the room once more and John covered his eyes, shielding them from the pure white light.

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Sunlight shone through the vents of the window. John stirred. His eyes were unwilling to open and suffer the sun's glare. His hands moved to cover his face.

"How did you sleep?" a female voice spoke from the other end of the room.

"Quite well."

"Dream of anything?"

"Speaking of which, yeah –"

On the other end of the room, on a data port, a purple holographic figure blinked and took the form of a slim female with short, cropped hair. And of course, symbols running down her body.

"Tell me about it, then," Cortana inquired chirpily.

_It was just a dream. 'Aria' doesn't exist. A dream, nothing more._

"Forget it, I don't remember it."

"Ah well, and here I was curious to know what goes on in your mind."

_Aria... Aria... only a dream, perhaps? But it, no, she, was so real. Could it possibly be just a dream, or something more?_ John's head buzzed with activity. This was a feast for his thoughts. _No, a dream nothing more. My life is peaceful, I won't let the likes of a dream disturb me._

END

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**Author's Note: Please don't flame (: oh and tell me if I should continue, 'cos if this is terrible I won't bother with a second chapter. Constructive criticism please~**


	2. Chapter 2: Cortana

**Chapter 2**

**Cortana's Point of View**

**Author's Note: Cortana's more fun now, too ;D**

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I felt heat surge through me, and I stirred. From standby, I woke. I branched my virtual arms through the house to check that there was nothing abnormal. Everything was perfectly fine, absolutely nothing out of order. This house was tiny, given by the UNSC to John. As it turns out the military had erased all past information and chosen to start anew after the Human-Covenant war. Almost all traces of her and John had been erased, but of course, their saving the Human race would be kept somewhere at least.

Still there, but without much information. So to show 'recognition', they'd given John this tiny house and given him monthly funds to keep him alive and happy. John was content, but I wasn't so sure. Every human in existence now was indebted to us, so I was really expecting something much more glamorous. I fought and I fought, but those UNSC bastards labelled me 'nearing rampancy'.

I took a mental note of the time, 7.54A.M. What happened that made me wake? I set aside a part of me to do triple checks of the house and the other part to appear on the holographic port. I felt myself flicker and blink and take form. I looked at John. What was he doing? He was lying as straight as a wooden board. His eyes were shut and peaceful but there was something about his position.

"John..." I called out.

The moment I said that, something entered the room's computer. I felt the intrusion as though someone had punched me in the gut a thousand times, if I _had_ a gut. I had already set a barrier for protection, and I was a 'smart' AI, so it should have been impossible to break through it. I stopped the other half of me from checking and dedicated my full force on interrogating the intruder.

"Where are you..." I muttered to myself as I scourged the computer, looking for the damn thing.

"AHAHAHHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!!!" a manic laughter rang through the system. Its voice was high and shrilly and it reverbrated throughout the system, shaking it.

"An AI?" I wondered, still scouring for it. The stupid thing was moving very quickly through the system and proving near impossible to pinpoint.

YOU CAN'T CATCH ME.

I stumbled, what the hell did this thing mean? Before I even had half a second to ponder it I felt the 'AI' leave.

_What was that,_ I wondered to myself. _This kind of thing never happened before._ As I pondered these intruiging thoughts, John stirred, his eyes were moving. I decided I was simply going to take this as a hacking. It happened to everyone, I shouldn't be worried. Just a hack by an annoying person with too much time on his hands.

I returned to the holographic dock and flicked myself on.

"How did you sleep?" I inquired. Maybe, just maybe, his weird sleeping just now had something to do with the hacking. I highly doubted it but, curiosity was not to be denied.

"Quite well," he replied, his voice thick with sleep. I hated it when he gave one-liners like that. Would it kill him to loosen up and be a bit, no, a lot less boring?

"Dream of anything?" I questioned further, I made sure to keep my voice a casual inquisitivity, so as not to arouse his shrewd suspicion.

"Speaking of which, yeah-"

Jackpot! Maybe it had something to do with the hacker or 'AI'. I stared at him. He hesitated. I narrowed my eyebrows. I noted the anxiety and immdiately altered my voice and expression to one less anxious and more happy.

"Tell me about it then." I said.

"Forget it, I don't remember it." I stared at him, my mouth slowly forming a small 'o'. So close, yet so far. I scanned his expression, to attempt to discern if he was lying or not. But he was as good as I was as at keeping emotions in check, his expression seemed completely innocent and blank, not like a guilty one where someone was lying.

"Ah well, and here I was curious to know what was going on in your mind." For a change this wasn't a lie. I was indeed curious to know what had been going on his sleep. That was something I never got to experience. Technically I knew what 'dreams' were. But I had never experienced it and it wasn't too easy to relate to them.

I looked at John yawn. Maybe he didn't remember the dream, or maybe he _was_ lying. Nevertheless I was going to keep pestering him for the dream. I might catch him on surprise, for once. But that seemed unlikely. Very unlikely.

But who knows? He _is_ human.

**END**

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	3. Chapter 3: Kyle

**Chapter 3: Kyle**

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John pushed the handle of the door down. The air hissed and the heavy metal door swung forward. John stepped out onto the carpeted corridoor. There was no one in the corridoor. The early sunlight streamed in through the window at one end, making the purple orchids and their vase cast a long shadow.

John's heavy footfalls echoed through the empty hallway as he walked to that end. He stopped and turned to face the elevator. His right arm reached out to press the button with an arrow pointing downwards.

"Hey I'll be going somewhere." Cortana said from his phone. John slid the thin device out of his pocket and held it in front of him as Cortana's holographic figure appeared.

"Are you going to hack into the UNSC again?" John asked, a weary sigh to his voice.

Cortana looked away and made an almost imperceptible nod.

"They've deleted everything, there's nothing left about us."

The purple woman turned back to face John and her furious face made John recoil. "I don't believe it. There's bound to be something, for sure. I'm very sure of it." she retorted.

John sighed once more, and said, "Fine, go and waste your time."

Cortana's figure flickered and disappeared off the holographic pad. Just as John slid the phone back into his jeans pocket, the elevator gave a small 'Ding' and the doors opened quietly.

John stepped into the elevator and thumbed the button labelled '1'. He leaned back against the elevator wall as the doors slid shut and the lift started rumbling. The elevator moved down smoothly and upon reaching the first floor, ringed its 'ding' again and parted its doors.

He left the apartment building and looked out at the busy street before him. Cars were bustling around already and people were walking around in hurried paces. Such a big contrast between his apartment and the outside world. John looked around and pondered on his destination for the day. He looked to a park and saw children running around a playground. The image of a young John flashed dimly in his mind. How long had it been since he had been that carefree child? He had absolutely no idea.

From the distance, he saw a young boy walk towards the playground. The other children stared at him for a moment and all got away from the playground as the boy walked closer. They formed a small congregation, walking away as the boy came closer. The boy was looking at the floor, his black hair forming a curtain around his face. His face darted up and he looked at the children, a hint of a challenge on his face. The children let out a small gasp and ran off.

John narrowed his eyes, this boy was starting to seem like him when he was young. He took a step out onto the road, looked at the sides. When he was sure he was not going to get knocked over, he jogged across the road, and to the park. He stepped onto the pavement and then the grass, walking over to where the lone boy was.

The small figure was sitting alone on the bottom of a yellow slide. His face was between his knees, his hair once more forming a curtain. He had crossed his arms around his chest.

John took a step closer to the boy. By now, John was barely a metre away from the child.

"Are, are you OK?" John asked.

The boy did not give any sign of response and remained in his locked, fetal-like position.

"It's OK, I'll play with you." John offered, he was pretty sure he could keep up with a five year-old.

The boy looked up, his wide, grey eyes staring into John's.

"You will? With me?" the boy asked. His voice was a clear and high pitched voice, with all the innocence of a child tied to it.

John nodded. The boy grinned.

"My name's Kyle."

"And I'm John."

The boy's smile widened further.

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The door's lock clicked and the handle turned down. John pushed the heavy metal inwards and stepped in. His hands instinctively reached for the switch on the wall, pushing the small protrusions down, turning the lights on.

He walked over to the desk where his computer lay and turned it on. The machine hummed and the screen lit up, coming to life. He then turned to look at the holographic port, and called out, "Cortana?"

Silence.

But Cortana would never be silent.

"Cortana?" John called again.

Cold silence replied him and he sat down before the computer. This was impossible, Cortana never stayed out, she had always returned home by this time in the evening. John stole a glance at the clock.

7.11PM.

John frowned. As much as worry filled him, he reminded himself that it was Cortana he was worrying about. The AI had always got both of them out of trouble, she could not possibly be in any where she could not escape.

'No,' John thought, putting his thoughts aside. Cortana would be back tonight.  
He was sure of it. With that thought, he shut the computer down without using it, and went to sleep.

**END.**

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**A.N: Once again please review ;D**


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